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| Callery Pear cluster watercolor sketch |
The Callery Pear, Pyrus calleryana, was “discovered” in China by French missionary Joseph Callery, hence its name. It was imported from China to the Arnold Arboretum in Boston in 1909 and then again in 1916 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture “to help develop the blight resistance in the common pear (Pyrus communis), which was devastating the pear industry.”
https://naturewalk.yale.edu/trees/rosaceae/pyrus-calleryana/callery-pear-tree-33.
By the 1950s, people had begun to appreciate its beauty and resilience to disease, so it was widely planted on the east coast and in the southern part of the U.S. In fact, it is one of the most common street trees in New York City and a welcome sign of spring with its lovely five-petaled white and pinkish flowers blooming in early April. Soon after, come the glossy green leaves appearing in clusters such as the one I found this morning and quickly sketched for the blog. The tree produces small fruits that birds and squirrels eat and distribute through their poop. And in the fall, the leaves turn red, purple, and bronze—quite a lovely sight to see.
https://naturewalk.yale.edu/trees/rosaceae/pyrus-calleryana/callery-pear-tree-33.
By the 1950s, people had begun to appreciate its beauty and resilience to disease, so it was widely planted on the east coast and in the southern part of the U.S. In fact, it is one of the most common street trees in New York City and a welcome sign of spring with its lovely five-petaled white and pinkish flowers blooming in early April. Soon after, come the glossy green leaves appearing in clusters such as the one I found this morning and quickly sketched for the blog. The tree produces small fruits that birds and squirrels eat and distribute through their poop. And in the fall, the leaves turn red, purple, and bronze—quite a lovely sight to see.
For many of us, the Callery Pear is a thing of beauty and hope. In fact, the “survivor tree” planted at the National September 11 Memorial site is a Callery Pear that survived the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. It was the last living thing to be taken from the rubble of 9/11. It was nearly destroyed, but the New York Department of Parks and Recreation took the charred almost “mortally wounded” tree that many thought was dead and nursed and cared for at a nursery in Van Cortlandt Park until it was ready to be replanted in December 2010 at the site of so much destruction and loss. The tree is in this site as a symbol of hope and resilience. There is a short documentary about this, “The Tree that Would Not Be Broken” https://vimeo.com/98160480. The tree continues to bloom each year and to be visited by thousands as a symbol of resilience and rebirth.
But to others the Callery Pear is a “bad tree,” “invasive,” “messy,” “dirty.” In other words, it is treated like many other immigrants—welcome to solve problems, do the dirty work and take the hits, but becomes a bit much when it takes up space and stays too long. But for many others of us, as the “survivor tree” reaches out to the sun and blooms, it has as they say in the film “come home” and we welcome it.
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